The National Copyright Administration (NCA) and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) announced the May 30 implementation of "Administrative Measures on Internet Copyright Protection", the first of its kind in the country.

"China's present copyright laws do not define responsibilities relating to copyright protection clearly to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). That's why we have introduced the new regulations," said Li Guobin, an official with the MII, on Sunday.

The regulations were published on April 30.

The short of it is, anyone who finds their copyrights infringed upon should inform the relevant ISP in writing with evidence of the alleged infringement. The ISP is obliged then to verify the allegation and report the matter immediately if there has been an infringement.

The State Council has already launched the draft of "Policies of Protecting Internet Information Spreading Rights," which has a stronger legal effect, Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of NCA said.

Statistics from MII show that by the end of 2004, China had more than 600,000 websites. Of these, only 8,000 were registered sites.

"If the government doesn't take measures to deal with Internet piracy, its efforts to fight piracy in tangible markets will fail. More dealers of pirated goods will switch to the Internet because of the lax controls," said Zheng Chengsi, director of the IPR Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2005)